The Best Equipment For An At-Home Workout

You can get a great workout with just your bodyweight. If you are looking for something more, here is some excellent at-home equipment to invest in.

Published: 6/18/18

Working out at the gym has its perks. Seemingly unlimited equipment, people to motivate you, pumping music, but sometimes you need to get in a workout at home. It doesn’t take much, and with our library of bodyweight workouts, you can burn calories with—you guessed it—just your body! But, if you are looking for something a little more, here is some excellent at-home equipment to invest in.

Yoga Mat

In your house, yoga mats can be used for many reasons. Not only to practice yoga but also to help in any exercise that requires you to—well—not slip. Since most yoga mats stick to the floor and have some sort of anti-slip padding on their surface, they are handy when trying to balance or keep control of your body. They also offer a kind of cushion between your body and the ground. Yoga mats can be great to relieve some of the pressure from plyometric workouts, and other exercises that require bursts of movement.

When purchasing your mat, go for something padded. When you are new to yoga or working on the floor in general, your body and joints will not be used to a hard surface. For this reason, you will want to find something with nice padding, but not so padded that it will increase your chance of injury. Finally, get something that you will love to use! Just like a new workout outfit can get you to the gym more often, a beautiful yoga mat that you love to look at is more likely to get used than something dingy that you would rather hide in the corner.

Jump Rope

Let’s get into it. Jumping rope is one of the best exercises on the planet. Jumping at even a slow rate can cook about ten calories per minute. As a comparison, a Harvard Health study showed that, during 60 minutes of exercise, a 155 lb person burns 744 calories jumping rope, and about 596 calories running at five mph.

Now, it should be noted that it is much more difficult to jump rope for an extended period of time, whereas running is based on endurance training and an hour can be achieved after a few months of training. But, jumping rope for just a few minutes a day can help with speed and agility in running, and therefore is very beneficial for all of our runners out there. As an indoor workout, you can see just how useful jumping rope could be!

Costing anywhere from $50 to $300 for a single unit, kettlebells can get expensive and quick. But, if you do your research and purchase the kettlebell that is perfect for you, it is an excellent addition to any home gym. If you want to perform calorie-blasting, powerful movements, a kettlebell is a great investment.

Basic free weights are also useful. Though not as dynamic or as useful for cardio strength as kettlebells, dumbbells are great for strength building, and a little weight can go a long way! If you have never worked with kettlebells and are not sure how to perform swings with proper form, we recommend going with free weights instead. Once you are ready, you can look into investing in some bells.

Heart Rate Monitor

We are fans of heart rate based workouts. Not only does it help you to see where you are performing in terms of output, but having a great heart rate monitor can help you track your progress as well. Stop by our front desk to purchase a heart rate monitor and get a rundown of how to connect it to your phone to track progress. Once you see your performance in real time, you won’t want to workout without it.